Upstarts Zig When Zagging Giants Appear To Lag

Corporate behemoths take mighty steps, but lean-and-nimble bootstrappers master the sprint. How they dart ahead:

 Reshape the wheel. Niche firm Iroko Pharmaceuticals doesn't create new drugs. It make old ones better. "We come up with new ways to maximize the product," Chairman Osagie Imasogie told IBD.

Take their spin on NSAIDS — nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed for pain.

Using nanotechnology, Iroko scientists make the medication's pain-relieving participles tinier, lowering the required dose and speeding the feel-better effect. "Hurrying to improve health care is the central theme that is driving Iroko and what we do," Imasogie said.

 Draw on roots. "We've been around the block multiple times," Imasogie said of his startup's 65 employees. With 20-plus years of experience with big pharmaceutical firms, the chairman aims to emulate the best attributes of those giants while ditching the cumbersome corporate baggage.

"We needed a clean slate. We built this company with clear objectives in mind," he said.

 Lead, then follow. Imasogie's management style: "I set very clear parameters. Once I do that, I get out of the way."

He listens when his experts have unexpected ideas. "You at the top are not the font of all knowledge," he said. "They may have insights on how to achieve a directive in a different way."

 Spin off. When Assurant (AIZ) aimed for new customers, the insurance giant pushed some of its talent out of the door to develop a new line. So says David Anderson, product director of Assurant division Protect Your Bubble.

"They felt it was very important to take us out of that corporate machine," he said. "We're somewhat of a startup that's been isolated."

 Fill a void. Protect Your Bubble's products cover cellphones, laptops and similar gadgets, plus pets and travel — "things that are very important to people," Anderson said. Many miss the opportunity to insure mobile devices because cellphone firms "don't really give you the chance to buy it after the sale." Protect Your Bubble fills that void and covers accidental damage to such beloved items as tablets, game consoles and cameras.

 Look for dust. Anderson's team picked travel as an area that Protect Your Bubble should zero in on because it's dominated by older insurance firms. "We think we can be a fresh new brand in that space," he said. "Our intention is to find these niche places and then bring a hero message and a hero product."

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03/11/2015 06:08 PM ET

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